


splinters

by Areiton



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Friendship, Healing, M/M, Nightmares, PTSD, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 01:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17397128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: He doesn't talk much at all, and that sits under Tony's skin like a splinter, because Peter has never been quiet.They won and it still feels like losing.





	splinters

Peter doesn't talk about it. 

He moves into the Avengers compound and he puts the suit back on. He trains and he goes on missions and he stands up with the others, solemn during the endless memorials.

But he doesn't talk about it. 

He doesn't talk much at all, and that sits under Tony's skin like a splinter, because Peter has never been quiet. 

They won and it still feels like losing. 

~*~ 

He tells the kid a week after they get everyone back. 

Because they did, they get everyone the snap took  _ back _ and it's like the world comes back to life. But the snap wasn't the only thing that killed, that day, when cars and trains and buses were suddenly unmanned, when pilotless planes fell from the sky. 

Steve offers to tell Peter but Peter is  _ his.  _ In a way the other Avengers never were, in a way Tony refuses to think about too much, in a way that made losing him hurt so much more than the others. 

He tells the kid, takes him to the memorial and stands silent sentinel when Peter finds their names, finds May Parker and Ned Leeds and quietly stares.

He doesn't cry. 

Peter never cries. 

~*~ 

He finds Peter with Strange, often enough that he gives the Sorcerer Supreme a dangerous look. 

They're never doing anything--Peter sleeps more often than not, sometimes reads or tinkers on one of the bots while Strange does his mystical bullshit. He glances over footage of them, once, ignoring FRIDAY's quiet disapproval, and they aren't even talking. 

They're just  _ there _ , inhabiting space together. 

And sometimes--Peter will reach out, fingers brushing as Strange moves past him. 

Strange will steady himself as he rises, with a light grip on Peter's knee. Once--just once--Peter falls asleep and Strange arranges him so the boy is pillowed against his shoulder, and then the wizard drops off as well. 

He doesn't know exactly what it is, what it means. 

But Peter looks more relaxed, after quiet hours with Strange, and sleeps without nightmares in his presence and Tony thinks maybe that is a low bar for  _ good enough _ but he'll take it. 

~*~ 

Peter is sitting at the bar, not really paying attention to the steady stream of babble around him when Thor arrives. Tony pauses in the middle of making coffee, eyes narrowing as he takes in Loki, pressed close to his brother's side and the gentle look on the Trickster's face.

“Spiderling,” he calls, gently. 

The effect on Peter is electric. He straightens, eyes wide like he can't quite believe it, before he's  _ throwing _ himself at Loki, a low noise in his throat that  _ hurts _ Tony. Loki catches him, and hums, deep and soothing as a portal opens and Strange steps out of nothing, bristling and furious. 

Their gazes catch and hold and Peter shudders with silent sobs between them and Strange sighs, sliding in along Peter's back, his scarred hands spread there. 

~*~ 

“He won't talk about it,” Thor admits, later. Loki and Peter and Strange have retreated to an overstuffed chair, curling together like puppies. 

Two of the most powerful creatures in the universe, and Peter, tear stained and whispering between them. 

Life was so strange.

“He is home, friend. Let that be enough,” Thor advises and Tony nods like he can. Like that  _ could be _ enough. 

It isn't. But he thinks maybe it could be a start. 

~*~ 

Peter doesn't talk about it. 

He doesn't talk much at all, but Tony can feel his gaze, steady and searching from the web he's built in the corner of the lab, where he nestles and cocoons himself and observes. 

He wonders what Peter is thinking, and if his presence soothes the boy as much as Strange's does. 

~*~ 

He wakes up, screaming, most nights. It's never Titan and Peter crumbling in his arms--that could be easier. 

It's an echoing voice in the compound that he can never find, no matter how frantically he searches, the way it fades into nothing but wind whistling through the windows. 

It's a burnt out forest he walks through and the silence so thick his ears ring and ash puffs up under his feet, a wordless accusation.

It's falling and wild desperate screams he can't  _ stop _ , and the burn of his aching lungs. 

He wakes screaming, most nights. 

One night, Peter appears in his doorway, bed-rumpled and soft in one of Tony's shirts and asks, soft as wind, “Are you ok?” 

Tony chokes on his sob, on his answer because he  _ isn't  _ but Peter--Peter is home and damaged and Tony  _ needs  _ to be strong for him. 

Peter steps close, close enough Tony can feel his naked thighs against his knees and feel his long fingers in his hair and says, pleading, “Let me help?”

~*~

Peter comes to his bed, when he has nightmares, or Tony does, wraps around him and shivers, and eventually lets sleep claim him. 

Sometimes, Tony will wake before him and stare because he can't believe that Peter is  _ here _ , is  _ alive. _

Sometimes he stares because Peter is here,  alive, and so damn beautiful it hurts. 

Peter smiles at him, sleepily, one morning and Tony murmurs, “God, I missed you, kid.” 

~*~ 

Peter doesn't talk about it. 

Not those long empty months after the snap or what happened or where he was. 

He doesn't talk about May or Ned or the refusal to return to school or the devastation he came back to. 

He doesn't talk about the scars he carries that are new, or the complicated, codependent relationship he has with a trickster god and a sorcerer. 

He doesn't talk much at all. But he sits next to Tony, watching the sunset, and says, “Thank you. For saving me.” 

He sits in the lab, and watches Tony and says, “I'm sorry, I left you alone.” 

He peers up at Tony from decadent sheets and mountains of pillows all stale with terror and sweat and says, “I love you,” before he kisses Tony, soft and chaste and hopeful.

He doesn't talk about it. 

But Tony thinks, maybe this is a splinter under his skin he can live with. He has lived with worse, under his skin. 

~*~ 

They win. 

For what can be called winning. 

And Peter comes home, broken and silent and he  _ clings. _

And as months slide by, Tony realizes--he's gone. The boy from Queens Tony abducted to fight Captain America, who followed him into space--that child is gone. 

Peter--this new, older, scarred Peter--watches him and Tony watches back and sees the tiny pleased smile Peter tries to hide. 

~*~ 

Slowly. 

Slowly. 

They heal. 

 


End file.
